Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

The Windy (Hot) City

A few thoughts before this week’s series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field:

Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee did not pitch this weekend in New York, but the Phillies won 2 of 3. And the one game they lost Cole Hamels pitched. I agreed with Rich Dubee‘s decision to push back Halladay and Lee. Give them a little extra rest whenever possible. An extra day. An extra inning. Anything will help them feel a little fresher in October.

From Elias Sports Bureau: Antonio Bastardo recorded the final four outs of the Phillies’ victory yesterday to notch his sixth save, but allowed one run and two hits in the process. That’s noteworthy because Bastardo entered the game having held opponents hitless in their last 37 at-bats. He extended that streak to 39 at-bats before surrendering a double to Daniel Murphy with one out in the ninth inning to snap the second-longest hitless streak against any pitcher this season. Justin Verlander held batters hitless in 46 consecutive at-bats over a three-game span (May 2-13) that sandwiched his May 7 no-hitter.

Hearing the heat index in Chicago is going to be brutal this week. Awesome!

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10 Comments

The Cubs can’t be happy that the Phillies decided to rest Halladay and Lee. Side note: Oswalt says he feels great and will start pitching off a mound this week.

I think the only move they will end up making is to get something for the bullpen. Perez showed yesterday why he’s been stuck in the minors all these years. Electric stuff, but iffy control. He can’t be trusted down the stretch and I doubt that Contreras is coming back.

Have we missed him? Not that I wish him any ill will but with the front end loading of the cost of the starting pitching, Juniors hands are a bit more tied and Charlie has been forced to put more faith in unknown quantities. Myself, I have been enjoying it. Besides, who can argue with success?

muleman, Blanton is not an issue because he was untradeable even before he got hurt. You can’t name one team that would take on that contract. He certainly is not an issue when it comes to their success or failure. He’s a nonentity at this point. Oswalt is the one they need back, especially for the postseason.

I heard on WIP this morning that Pat Gillick thinks the Phils need the RH bat. I would think RAJ takes his opinion into consideration (also Charlie has said the same thing many times). It will be interesting to see what tricks he might pull off before the trade deadline.

Nice to see Kendrick have a good outing. Hopefully Madson’s outing was just due to the fact that he’s coming off the DL.

the way mayberry has been hitting i’m beginning to think we don’t need that rhb so much. if we can pick up someone great, but we don’t need to sell the farm. Balnton is an issue because even if we ate part of his salary and only got a good prospect (infielder) it would have been an added bonus next year. as it stands we either have to pay jroll loads or go shopping on the FA market for a ss–kind of hard with the salary we’re carrying. the pen is an issue but we get lidge back for middle innings. together with bastardo, madson, stutes, KK wehould be ok. If we can get adams for singleton, who has nowhere to play in phila, that would be great, though

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